It was a regular day at work for Team India as they practiced ahead of the 2nd ODI against New Zealand in Pune.
After being 1-0 down in the series, it is a must-win game for the hosts to keep the series alive.
Talking to media ahead of the game, Bowling Coach B Arun said it was a big challenge for the Indian team. “We look at it as a big challenge right now. New Zealand compete exceptionally well, they had a fantastic partnership in the Mumbai game and they went on to win that game. It’s a bigger challenge for us to come back. We know we have our plans in place and it’s a good testing ground for the team on how you come back from behind and do well in the series,” he added.
A 200-run partnership between Tom Latham and Ross Taylor steered New Zealand to a six-wicket victory over India and the duo were praised for their way of handling the spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
Talking about new plans and the implementation, Arun said, “Yes, we do have plans. We have taken a good look at the videos and how they played the sweeps. Definitely, the bowling plans would change for these batsmen.”
While it wasn’t a great outing for the two wrist-spinners, Arun heaped praise on the duo for having shaped up beautifully in the past couple of months.
“India has won nine games on the trot and these two wrist spinners have done their job and they have time and again taken wickets. Sometimes it does happen that you don’t get the desired wickets and you have your plans in place but it doesn’t work out. If you look at the overall percentages, we are happy with the way Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have shaped up. One odd match shouldn’t trouble us,’ he added.
With an action-packed cricket calendar, the workload of the fast bowlers has been the talking point and Arun made it clear that Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav are the first choice for Test matches while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah are preferred options for limited overs cricket.
“If you look at Shami and Umesh, they are your number one Test bowlers. And Bhuveshwar and Bumrah have been exceptional and possess all the skills to do well in One Day Competitions. With the volume of cricket India is going to play, it is very important that we have pool of bowlers to choose from so that they remain fresh for every form of the game that we play,’ he iterated.
